tawandamusarurwa
CDE ONIAS GARIKAYI GOSHA (OGG) — one of the pioneering freedom fighters of the Second Chimurenga whose nom de guerre was GEORGE GABARINOCHEKA — continues with his account, chronicling how his group sneaked into Rhodesia to launch the second and most intense phase of the liberation struggle.
He tells our Deputy News Editor LINCOLN TOWINDO (LT) about the execution of the attack on Altena Farm on December 21, 1971.
*****************************
LT: After Frelimo commanders allowed ZANLA fighters to transit through Mozambique on their way to Rhodesia, were you immediately deployed to the front?
OGG : After we were given the go-ahead to use Mozambique as a safe passage to Rhodesia by Frelimo, we began working very closely with them.
My group was working closely with Frelimo commanders, who included this soldier called Donea Feremengo.
It was through working with the Frelimo fighters that ZANLA fighters adopted the honorific “shefu” when referring to our leaders.
We adopted the term from our Frelimo colleagues who used the Portuguese word “chefe”, which means boss, leader or commander.
Up to today, we still refer to our leaders as “shefu” in ZANU PF.
During that time, we were learning from the Mozambicans about how to safely navigate our way into Rhodesia without being detected.
In order to go into Rhodesia, we had to pass through Mozambique, where we would also pass through Frelimo bases.
They would then show us all the safe routes into Rhodesia.
Before we set out to go to the front, we went back to Zambia; that was around March 1972.
We went to Zambia, where Frelimo had a farm near Chifombo.
From there, we would proceed on foot on a seven-day-long journey along the Zambezi Basin to Mozambique.
We were now ready to enter the warfront.
We were supposed to carry our first batch of war supplies into what was soon to become a raging war zone.
I remember it was during that journey that we lost many comrades after being spotted by the enemy.
I remember we lost Cde Joseph Khumalo; he was killed in an ambush.
Regardless of the losses, we continued moving into Rhodesia.
LT: What was the first thing you did when you entered Rhodesia as pioneering freedom fighters who were going in to ignite a war?
OGG : We had learnt a lot from mistakes made by the first group of seven freedom fighters who were involved in the Chinhoyi battle.
We knew that we were not supposed to make the same mistakes they did. It was manifestly clear that their mission was doomed from the very start, because they had not involved the povo in preparing the ground for the assault.
They had not done any mass political education to teach the masses about the importance of dislodging the white racist regime and how to do it through the barrel of the gun.
What they did was that they just showed up and started fighting without getting any buy-in from the locals, which was fatal.
The masses did not even know what they were fighting for.
So, in order to avoid that same pitfall, we had to begin our campaign by educating the masses about our political aims.
So, from Mozambique, we departed from an area called Dewetewe, where we were involved in a confrontation with Portuguese fighters escorting some senior military officers.
As we made our way into the country, we were conducting mass political education in all the villages we passed through.
Young men from the villages would then help us carry our weapons to the next village, where we would do the same thing all over again.
We were slowly organising the povo in preparation for the launch of our military campaign.
As we taught them about the political aims of our mission, we made sure we warned them about the deadly perils of the path we had chosen.
We told them that many were going to die; some would be jailed and others were going to lose their property because of the war.
In spite of all these dangers, we were going to fight the enemy.
Many among them would ask whether the war that was underway in Mozambique was also going to happen in our own country, and we told them that this was exactly what was going to happen in their villages.
In fact, we told them that we were working closely with Frelimo fighters in Mozambique. As we continued with our mobilisation of the povo, the Rhodesians got wind of our presence in the country.
So, they deployed heavily in the area.
We knew that we were not yet ready for direct confrontation with the enemy, so we adopted methods to evade detection.
At times, we would use huge tree branches to cover our footprints.
We would, at times, walk in a single file, with everyone behind the lead person, making sure to place their feet exactly where the person in front of them would have planted theirs.
That way, the enemy trackers would not know that a group of people would have passed through a certain area.
We continued doing that as we hid arms all over our area of operation.
I remember my group coming across one George Rutanhire, who was then working as a teacher of Christianity (catechist) in Dande under the Roman Catholic Church.
But when he met us, he was inspired and ended up joining the war.
So, he was one of our recruits.
We also made efforts to recruit local leaders, including traditional chiefs, who included Chief Chiweshe and Chief Nohwedza.
But working with them was very difficult because once the Rhodesian authorities discovered that they were collaborating with the “terrorists”, their lives were in danger.
So, we took them away and led them to safety across the border into Zambia.
LT: Take us through how your direct confrontation with the Rhodesians began.
OGG : Our commanders had told us that the war was supposed to start before Christmas.
So, we were given leaflets that we distributed all over, warning the masses about the impending war.
The leaflets were inscribed “ZANU” and showed which areas we were going to be operating from.
Our first attack took place on December 21, 1972, when we attacked Altena Farm.
This whole mission was plotted from Musengezi Mission, where we had a weapons cache.
We had been told that the farm owner was a white lawyer, who had a record of persecuting locals.
His farm was located close to the native reserves, so it was an easy target.
The attack took place around the early hours of the day.
A small group of freedom fighters armed with AK47s launched a surprise attack.
They launched grenades at the house. There was also a simultaneous attack on a bar in Mt Darwin that was frequented by Rhodesian soldiers.
The reason we attacked Altena Farm was mainly for publicity purposes, and we achieved just that.
We wanted people to know that the war had begun and, indeed, we had successfully announced the beginning of a new phase of the Second Chimurenga.
Next week, Cde Gabarinocheka concludes his narration, recounting his many other battles, before telling us how he lost an eye to a dirty bomb that had been hidden inside a radio.
Twitter: kuntowaz
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu